• Sheikh Salman was re-elected unopposed in 2015.
• The Bahraini was chosen to serve as the AFC president in 2013.
• His confederation contains 47 of FIFA’s 211 countries.

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, the head of Asian football and FIFA’s second-in-command, was elected to a new four-year term on Wednesday.

The Bahraini king was chosen to serve as the Asian Football Confederation’s president during his home nation’s Asian Football Confederation Congress in 2013.

Following the poll, in which he was declared the winner and had no challengers, he said, “I’d want to thank you all for placing your faith in me for another four-year term.

“Asian football has entered a new epoch.”

When Infantino was elected FIFA president in 2016 after Sepp Blatter’s rule was ended by a huge corruption scandal, the Bahraini king was a competing candidate.

Sheikh Salman has declared his support for Infantino’s campaign for reelection this year. His confederation contains 47 of FIFA’s 211 countries.

Infantino praised the growth of Asian football and congratulated al Khalifa, highlighting the Qatar World Cup in 2022 as a prime example.

“The men’s World Cup in Qatar was obviously the best World Cup ever,” Infantino remarked.

“Meeting this standard will be challenging.”

When Sheikh Salman took over, the AFC was in disarray after his predecessor, Qatari businessman Mohamed bin Hammam, was banned from football for life due to bribery allegations and conflict-of-interest issues.

Sheikh Salman was re-elected unopposed in 2015 and 2019 after serving the final two years of bin Hammam’s mandate.

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